Application of Social Vulnerability Index to Identify High- risk Population of Contracting COVID-19 Infection: a state-level study

Social factors that determine a population’s health are known as the social determinants of health. During the past few weeks, as COVID-19 cases grew exponentially, the discrepancy among the number of cases distribution was evident.By applying the social vulnerability index and analyzing data from a total of 102 counties across the state of Illinois, we investigated which factors enhanced the risk of contracting the infection and which were related to a lower risk of infection. Our results showed that social factors such as belonging to a minority group, speaking English less than well, living in a multi-unit structure, and households with individuals of age group of 17 or younger were associated with a higher risk of infection. On the other hand, we found that factors such as living in a mobile home, individuals of age group 65 or older, low income per capita and, older than age 5 with disability were protective. We propose that communities with disproportionate health burdens can be identified by the application of these factors. Future efforts need to focus on decreasing the gap of to decrease the gap of disparity by modifying these social factors.